


Love Fern

by hutchabelle



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-29
Updated: 2014-08-29
Packaged: 2018-02-15 06:10:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2218728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hutchabelle/pseuds/hutchabelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peeta and Katniss buy a fern to represent their relationship. Neither of them have a green thumb. Inspired in part by How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Fern

Peeta tightened his arm around Katniss’ shoulder and pulled her closer. The scent from her freshly shampooed hair filled his nostrils, and he nuzzled into her neck to nip at the soft skin there. She pressed into him for a moment and then pulled away.

Batting at his shoulder, she shushed him. “Stop, Peeta. This is my favorite part.”

He sighed but left her alone as Kate Hudson’s character interrupted her on screen boyfriend’s poker game for the third time in a minute. Katniss leaned forward in anticipation, her hands on her knees.

“Here it comes,” Katniss said with a smile in her voice, and she quoted along with a grin on her face.

“Our love fern! You let it die!”

Peeta chuckled at the look on Matthew McConaughey’s face. His expression combined shock, irritation, frustration, disbelief, and a myriad of other emotions as his character attempted to come to grips with his overdramatic girlfriend. The movie made him more grateful than ever that Katniss was always so steady.

Katniss nestled back into her own boyfriend’s arms and hummed in contentment when the on screen couple agreed to go to couple’s counseling in an attempt to mend their sham relationship. She glanced at him and said softly, “Maybe we should do that, Peeta.”

Peeta sputtered and choked on the drag of beer he’d just taken. He flailed his arms and coughed so violently, he worried he’d never catch his breath again. His watery eyes blurred his vision as he managed to clear the fluid from his windpipe. With one last hack, he gulped and turned to look at Katniss. Her worried eyes seemed to clear a bit when she was assured he was okay, but she continued rubbing his back in a soothing fashion.

“We should do what?” he gasped. “Couples therapy?”

His horrified look and the tears in his eyes, an aftermath of his choking fit, caused her shoulders to shake with laughter. For being such a nice, sensitive guy who didn’t mind sharing his feelings with her, Peeta’s horror at talking to a therapist was comical.

Clapping her hand over her mouth, she attempted to keep her laughter under control, but her eyes twinkled in mirth.

“God, no, Peeta. I meant get a fern, or some other plant if you want, but I really do like ferns,” she explained.

The relief on his face amused her at the same time it irritated her. What would have been so awful if they had seen a therapist? It’s not like they’d had many problems, so therapy would have only served to increase their closeness.

He shook his head, so she pressed the other issue. “We just moved in together. We’re starting a new chapter of our lives. Why shouldn’t we have something to commemorate that major life change?”

“You mean besides living in the same apartment together?” he questioned. “Isn’t that kind of a commemoration of its own?”

Her face fell at his dismissal, and a wave of guilt washed over him. She shook her head to mask her hurt before rising from the couch and turning her back on him. She moved into the kitchen and out of Peeta’s line of sight, but he could hear her slamming cabinet doors much louder than she normally would.

Realizing he’d upset her, he rose and joined her. He moved behind her and slid his arms around her waist from behind. Nestling his chin on her shoulder, he crooned in her ear, “Don’t be mad, baby. We can buy a plant if you want to.”

The tension remained in her body until Peeta moved his lips to her neck and dropped soft kisses along the tendon that ran from her jawline to her collarbone. As his lips caressed her, he felt her shoulders relax. It wasn’t long before she leaned back into him and sighed in happiness.

“Peeta, stop,” she begged as his hands found his way under her shirt and stroked the soft skin around her waist.

He lifted his mouth to her ear and breathed, “You don’t really want me to stop, Katniss. You want me to keep going. I call bullshit.”

She whimpered at his words—mostly because she knew he was right—and tilted her head so he could reach more of her neck.

“You want me to undress you slowly…one piece of your clothing at a time and caress every inch of your naked skin,” he murmured as his hands did exactly what he was saying.

The blood rushed through her veins in molten waves. Peeta always made her weak when he turned his full seductive powers toward her. He could ask her to do almost anything at that moment and she would have agreed.

He turned her to face him then and shifted to his right so he could seat her on the counter. Unfastening his belt, he dropped his pants and pulled her toward him so he could slip into heat. She sighed in contentment as he stretched her, and she wrapped her arms and legs around him and held on. His hips thrust faster and the tension built between them until they broke at the same time, gasping and panting the other’s name.

A few minutes after his release, he raised his cheek from her shoulder and pressed his lips against her pliant ones. “I love you, Katniss—so much. So, if you want to get a love fern or a rubber plant or an evergreen tree… Hell, if you want to get a puppy, we can get one,” he assured her. His beautiful blue eyes met and held her gray ones as he said, “I’m sorry I laughed. I thought you were joking because of the movie. It’s really a sweet idea.”

That was how they ended up with a large fern that hung from a plant hook in the corner of their small living room. Their apartment wasn’t big, but it was clean and safe and that was all either of them expected for their first place together.

Peeta didn’t know the first thing about how to take care of a plant like the one she’d picked out and carried proudly through the Lowe’s where they’d gone after he’d made love to her in the kitchen. She hung it lovingly above and to the side of the TV, but the plant’s proximity to their electronics hindered her ability to mist it like she was supposed to. It was too heavy to move without his help, and she forgot every time he came home because they almost always ended up naked together before she could ask him for his long arms to reach the hook.

It didn’t take long before the fern began to wilt, and Katniss wondered if its droopy appearance influenced the emotional distance she sensed with Peeta the first few months they lived together or if it was a result.

Either way, Katniss worried when he spent more time at work than at home, but it wasn’t until he increased his guy’s nights from one evening a week to three that she seriously considered that the gulf between them was more serious than the fresh bloom fading from their changed relationship.

In fear, she grew more focused on the fern. She did some research online about how to care for one and found that misting twice a day, once in the morning and once at night, was the best way to care for the plant. Because of that, she developed a pattern. Every morning after he left for work, she rose to cover the entertainment center with a plastic sheet and misted the fern. She’d never been so grateful to work from home, and she rushed through her daily responsibilities so she could repeat the ritual before he returned in the evening.

Despite her efforts, the fern continued to wilt. In exact correlation to it, her feelings of unease increased.

When Peeta came home every day after work and he greeted her tiredly, she swallowed her disappointment if he didn’t immediately take her in his arms. After several days of that, she welcomed him in various stages of undress with what she was sure was a seductive smile. She became more aggressive than she’d ever been before and misread his hesitancy as lack of attraction instead of confusion.

She redecorated parts of the apartment to make it nicer while he was away on a business trip and grew frustrated when he rolled his eyes at the lacy guest hand towels she’d placed in the bathroom.

When she noticed she’d gained a few pounds from over-eating due to her anxiety over their relationship, she researched healthy alternatives to the club sandwiches Peeta preferred. When he turned up his nose at the watercress she used to replace the bacon, she dissolved in tears and locked herself in the bathroom. She was only placated when he insisted she open the door and saw the state of his hair. He’d run his hands through it in exasperation so much that it stood on end.

In apology, he offered to prepare a special meal for her the next week so she could relax instead of taking care of him. He spent hours looking up recipes on the internet and buying the ingredients for the meal and his own specialty—the cheese buns he knew she loved from their college days when he used to bake to relieve tension during finals week.

When he placed the succulent rack of lamb in front of her on the table, he was unprepared and more than a little pissed when she burst into tears and refused to eat. In frustration, he yelled, “What’s the fucking problem now, Katniss?”

Sobbing into her hands, she cried, “You hate me.” She knew she wasn’t being rational at that moment, but her emotions had been out of whack since she’d started her new form of birth control a few weeks after they moved in together.

Peeta sighed in defeat and moved to reassure her. He held her and stroked the long, dark braid that fell down her back until her sobs eased. Only then could she recount the story about her sister’s pet goat, Lady, and how the rack of lamb brought back memories of her younger sister whom she hadn’t seen in much too long.

He kissed her eyelids softly and wiped away the tears that slid down her cheeks. Then he moved them to the couch and turned the TV to ESPN and muted it so he could watch the playoffs while she hiccupped until she fell asleep in his arms.

Peeta cheered silently as his team won and moved into a series split. He was careful not to disturb Katniss whose cheek rested against his chest, her ear pressed against his beating heat. The puffiness and deep circles around her eyes upset him because he couldn’t understand why she’d grown increasingly unhappy since they moved in together.

When her lips parted slightly and she snuffled when she breathed, he moved to lift her carefully and carry her to their bed. He undressed her slowly, careful to place soft kisses on her shoulders after he tucked her under the sheets.

It took a few more minutes before he was sure she in a deep sleep and could slip back into the living room to remove the fern from its hook. He carried it into the kitchen and placed it in the sink. He allowed the water to run until it was the perfect tepid temperature and then parted the leaves to water the dirt that filled the pot. He’d read enough to know that fern leaves died if they were touched directly with streams of water, so he made sure the dirt was soaked before shutting off the water and retrieving the misting bottle from beneath the kitchen sink. When he was satisfied, he lifted the plant to let it finish dripping and then returned it to the hook in the living room.

Standing back to observe the plant, he frowned as he noticed how little it resembled the healthy plant Katniss had chosen when they first bought it. He couldn’t shake the feeling that their relationship was also on the decline, just like the fronds on the fern.

Peeta’s work load had increased since the two had moved in together. He worked in marketing at one of the top scouting agencies in the city, and he was up for a promotion if he could manage to win an account that would bring considerable prestige to the firm. He wanted that promotion because he knew it would allow for them to move out of their current apartment and into a house much sooner than either of them had expected. He wanted kids, and he knew Katniss wouldn’t agree to marry him, let alone have kids, until they found a place that had a backyard. She’d grown up with woods behind her house, and she wanted her own children to have the same access to nature that she’d enjoyed as a child.

The problem was that his extended working hours had taken time away from Katniss. He’d lied to her about where he was at night, telling her he was meeting more frequently with his friends instead of spending those hours at the office. He wanted his promotion to be a surprise, and they’d also promised not to let work interfere with their relationship. He didn’t want her to be upset that he was pulling sixty to eighty hour weeks.

Looking back, he wondered if he’d made the right decision. Katniss seemed a lot less confident than the woman who’d moved into their apartment with him and ran her accounting business from her home office and much different than the women he’d met and loved in college. As an introvert, she enjoyed having the freedom to do her work without having to interact with copious amounts of co-workers and clients. However, her isolation had also led to increased dependence on him, and it worried him.

He wanted his cool, sexy, amazing Katniss back instead of the weepy, insecure person she’d become.

That night he slept fitfully, and so did she. She woke him twice with garbled screams. Once she’d let out his name and the other her sister’s. By the time dawn broke through the windows, he’d made a decision.

Over breakfast, he looked at his girlfriend and said, “Sweetheart, I think it might be time for you to go visit Prim. You’ve been missing her, and since you work from home now, it would be a good idea to take advantage of your flexible schedule.”

She stopped with her spoon full of oatmeal halfway to her mouth and responded in a flat voice, “You want me to go away?”

Sighing heavily, he shook his head and missed the flash of hurt that passed through her eyes. “No, Katniss, but you woke me up last night yelling her name. I thought it would make you feel better to go see her.”

“Fine!” she snapped and slammed her spoon into the bowl. “I’ll get out of here so you can have some time to yourself. We should have never moved in together,” she spit.

Before he could register her outrageous statement, she’d grabbed her purse and stomped from the apartment. He sat at the table shaking his head until he forced himself to rise and dress for work. He couldn’t afford to be late while he was working on this account.

It took Katniss a while to calm down, but a cup of hot tea from the local coffee shop around the corner from their apartment helped ease the irrational anger she’d felt that morning. When she felt under control, she pulled out her phone and called Prim.

“Katniss!”

Katniss couldn’t stop the smile at her sister’s greeting. “Hi, Prim,” she answered. “Are you busy for the next few days? I was thinking about coming to visit.”

Katniss pulled the phone away from her ear to protect her hearing from the loud, enthusiastic screech Prim emitted. Apparently, the two sisters had been apart for much too long.

“Yes, yes, yes!” she shrieked. “I can clear my schedule. Get here. When are you coming?”

“Today?” Katniss asked hesitantly. She really should talk to Peeta before making the decision, but she was holding onto some residual anger and it had been his suggestion in the first place.

“I’m so excited!” Prim effused. “Are you packed? Get done packing and get here. If you leave in the next couple of hours, you can be here for dinner.”

After agreeing and saying goodbye, Katniss rushed home to throw a few changes of clothes, some files, and her laptop into a duffel. She grabbed her toiletry bag without looking inside, resigned to buying travel size replacements for anything she left behind.

It was four hours into her six hour road trip and after letting Peeta know via text that she’d left that she realized she’d left her birth control pills behind. Shrugging it off, she decided to worry about getting back to regular later and using condoms after she got back to be safe.

The week passed much too quickly for her taste. She missed Peeta, but even she had to admit that things between them hadn’t been as good since they’d decided to live together. She expressed her frustration to Prim and was grateful her sister listened and then asked thoughtful questions to try to help figure out what had sparked the decline in the relationship.

Hanging her head, Katniss admitted, “I haven’t been acting like myself at all. I’m emotional all the time and lose my temper at the smallest provocation, and even when I know I’m being irrational, I can’t control my reactions.”

Prim, who’d volunteered in a hospital all through high school, wondered, “Sounds like your hormones are out of whack. Are you on birth control? Staying regular?”

“Never miss a day,” Katniss answered before hesitating. “Well, except since I’ve been here. I forgot them at home.”

“Well, keep track of your cycle and see if they correlate to your moods. You never know—” but she was interrupted by the telephone. Answering it, she held it out to her sister. “It’s Peeta. He couldn’t get through on your cell phone, and he needs to talk to you.”

With a slight tremble in her hand she reached for the phone and mumbled, “Hello?”

“Hey, Kat,” he said in greeting. “I know you’re heading back in a few days, but I just got called away on a business trip. See you when I get back?”

Swallowing her disappointment, she nodded and then realized he couldn’t see her. “Yeah. See ya,” she said hollowly. She ended the call and looked at her sister. “He has to go away on business, so I’ll be home alone for a few days.”

“Maybe that’s good,” Prim offered. “It’ll give you some time to be back at home and try to get back to normal.”

“Good point,” she agreed.

Putting Peeta out of her mind, she spent the rest of her trip enjoying time with Prim. The return trip home allowed her to think through some things, and she resolved to get control of her anger outbursts and repair her relationship with Peeta.

By the time she reached their apartment, she’d calmed enough so that when she walked in she merely gasped when she saw the fern sitting in the sink standing in several inches of water. The dirt was soaked and only the very tips of the plant were still green. She guessed that Peeta had tried to make sure it would stay hydrated while he was away, but instead, he’d succeeded in over-watering and almost killing the thing. She appreciated the effort he’d made, but it still made her sad.

Peeta’s business trip lasted a few more days than he’d expected, and he was so busy during his time away that he’d only had time to send Katniss a few texts since they were on opposite sides of the country and time zones wreaked havoc with his sleep patterns. He was exhausted by the time he stood outside their shared apartment looking for his keys, but he was looking forward to seeing Katniss more. He’d missed her more than he could stand, and he hoped she was in the mood for something romantic when he walked through the door. He was ready to celebrate the promotion he knew was coming.

“Katniss, sweetheart,” he called as he walked through the door, “I’m home!”

She streaked around the corner and threw herself at him. He stumbled back when he caught her and smiled at her enthusiastic greeting. He helped steady her and pressed his lips against hers in a soft greeting, but before he could pull her into his embrace, her eyes flashed and she stalked into the kitchen. Within seconds, she returned with wild eyes and yelled, “Our fern! You killed it!”

Something clicked inside her when she heard herself and her mouth dropped open in surprise. Peeta couldn’t stop the bark of laughter that burst from him at the ridiculousness of the situation and was relieved to see she wasn’t hurt by that. Instead, she seemed to wake from a fog.

Covering her mouth in horror, she said, “Oh, Peeta. I’m acting crazy again. This is just a plant. I’m not this person. I’m not that girl who loses her mind over a symbol when what the symbol represents is so much more important. What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I control what’s happening with my emotions?”

He could see a genuine spark of panic and that scared him too. Crossing to her, he took the dead plant from her and pulled her into his arms. Dropping kisses on her hair, he held her and crooned in her ear, “It’s okay, sweetheart. We’ll figure it out.”

It was only when they sat down to talk about their time apart that they realized a pattern to her behavior. The only time she’d felt like herself since they’d moved in together were the first weeks and then the week she’d spent with her sister. Those were also the only times she’d been off her birth control pills. Clearly the new prescription didn’t fit with her body chemistry and needed to be changed. Weeping tears of happiness that she’d figured out the problem, Katniss threw the pills in the trashcan while Peeta ran to the store to pick up some condoms. The days apart had been much too long.

He returned with a small plastic bag and one hand behind his back. With a lopsided smile, he extended his arm and held out a small fern to replace the one he’d inadvertently killed.

“I may not be able to keep house plants alive, but I love you, Katniss,” he said. “Let’s try this again, and maybe this time, we can make it grow.”

With a soft kiss, she set the fern down and led him into the bedroom where they tended their relationship with enthusiasm.


End file.
